Head Torch - Rechargeable Tilting Zoom Beam - LED Headlamp for Fishing

You are kneeling over a tackle box in the dark, and the beam is lighting a hedge twenty metres behind it. So you tip your head down, and now the light is on the ground by your knees. You end up holding the torch in your teeth, or propping it on the lid where it slides off.

This is a head torch built around the part everyone else treats as an afterthought: where the light actually goes.

Here's how it works

The lamp head sits on a yoke that tips through 90 degrees. Set it once, and the beam stays pointed at your hands while you look straight ahead or straight down. You stop aiming your head to aim the light. On a riverbank, that is the difference between unhooking a fish in the dark and putting it back down to find the torch.

The front collar pulls out and pushes in to zoom the beam. Pushed in, the light spreads wide and fills the ground around you, which is what you want over a tackle box, an engine bay or a tent pitch. Pulled out, it narrows to a tight circle that reaches down a path or across a field. One torch covers the walk out and the job at the far end, so there is no second torch in the bag.

Power sits in a compartment at the back of the harness rather than on the front. That is a comfort decision more than a capacity one. Weight over the forehead is what makes a head torch unbearable after an hour, and moving it behind the head balances the load across the strap instead. Two rechargeable lithium cells go in the rear housing and come out again, so a spare pair in a pocket extends the night rather than ending it.

Three settings, cycled from a single rubber button on the side of the head: high for distance, low when you are working close and do not want to blind whoever is next to you, and strobe when you want to be seen on an unlit lane.

The gear it replaces

• A hand torch — usable, but only with one hand, and the other hand is doing the job.
• A phone torch — flat by eight o'clock, and it lights whatever the phone is pointed at rather than whatever you are.
• A second torch for distance — the zoom covers both jobs, so there is one thing to carry and one thing to charge.
• Disposable batteries — two rechargeable cells and both chargers are in the box.

What's in it

• 90-degree tilting lamp head — set the angle once and the beam stays on your hands, not on the horizon behind them.
• Push-pull zoom — wide flood for close work, tight spot for distance, changed with one hand without taking it off.
• Rear battery compartment — the weight sits behind the head instead of over the brow, which is what makes it wearable for a long session.
• Two rechargeable lithium cells included — replaceable rather than sealed in, so a spare pair keeps you going and the torch outlasts its first battery.
• Mains and 12V vehicle chargers included — charge it at home the night before or on the drive out.
• High, low and strobe — one rubber button on the side, usable in gloves.
• Aluminium alloy lamp housing — it goes in a kit box and comes out again without being looked after.
• Adjustable webbing harness — an over-head strap and an around-head strap, both adjustable, so it stays put when you look down.

Water-resistant to rain and spray. It is not rated for submersion.

Suitable for night fishing, camping, walking and hill walking after dark, dog walking on unlit lanes, and jobs around the vehicle, the shed and the loft through the winter.

Tips down. Zooms out. Both hands free.